ORANGE COUNTY PREP BASKETBALL : Sunset League : Marina Spoils Westminster’s Bid for an Upset

Westminster High School had its chances Friday night against Marina, the No. 2 team in Orange County.

About half a dozen of them, as a matter of fact.

But the Lions, who trailed by five with about 1:30 to play and were playing under the Sunset League’s three-point-shot rule, were unable to make another shot, and Marina won, 62-55, in front of 450 at Westminster.

Marina made 6 of 9 free throws in the final two minutes to hold on as Westminster came back after trailing by 18 in the third quarter.

“We didn’t really think it through there at the end,” Westminster Coach Dick Katz said. “This is the first time we’d been down in five games or so, and we weren’t ready for it.”

Marina (3-0, 16-2) had led by just five at halftime but pulled out to a big lead in the third quarter, outscoring Westminster, 21-8, despite playing most of the second half without 6-foot 10-inch center Mark Georgeson, who left with four fouls just a minute and a half into the third quarter and fouled out almost immediately after returning to the game with five minutes to play.

Westminster trailed by 14 with 6 1/2 minutes to play. Tom Dever hit a three-point shot to cut it to 49-38. Dever, who finished with 14 points, had 11 of those in the fourth quarter. Chris Tower scored 11 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter as well.

“We should have had them down by a lot more than five in the first half,” said Marina Coach Steve Popovich. “I think we made them take shots they didn’t want to then.”

Marina might indeed have been up by more than five after the first half but for making just 9 of 27 shots.

Mike Meyers and Steve Guild led Marina with 16 points each.

Georgeson was held to just eight.

“I thought we played well until the last of the second half, when Mark fouled out,” Steve Popovich said. “They got going, with the emotional lift of Georgeson leaving. Right when he went out, boom, boom, they really got things going.”

Said Katz: “I was very proud of our kids. They were way down and they came back.”

Marina, which Popovich said had not won at Westminster in three years, takes over first place in the Sunset League. Westminster fell to 2-1.

Fountain Valley 50, Edison 48--The Chargers’ Chris Lippincott missed a 15-footer at the buzzer as the Barons (3-0, 9-6) held on to win at Edison. Andrew Tulumello scored 18 points, 12 in the first half, to lead Fountain Valley. Rob Briggs added 14. Edison (0-3, 8-9) shot only 36% from the field.

Ocean View 65, Huntington Beach 42--Desi Hazley scored 17 points and Ricky Butler 13 as the Seahawks (1-2, 11-4) stopped a two-game losing streak at home.

Mike Brazzel scored a game-high 20 for the Oilers.